One of the seminars I attended in D.C. was quite interesting. Everyone should be familiar with their local governments disaster plan. At least as far as evacuations go. Where I am now is a designated pass through county for hurricane evacuations. I know where to go with the camp chairs and the cooler full of beer to watch the mass exodus.

The two most important points raised were:1) Have a plan!2) Have a realistic plan!

Many jurisdictions do #1 but fail miserably on #2.

I wont go into particulars but one municipality as an example expected city bus drivers (not properly trained and equipped first responders, nor very well compensated over all) to respond to a call out and make multiple repeated trips into a hot zone to evacuate people.They had a plan all right. A realistic plan? I leave that up to you to decide.

If your local plan does not look realistic, get involved and ask people some questions. If they change things great, if not, you have to decide if you are going to rely on them or base your plan on information you can get from their plan. If you know they are going to be using the interstate, do you have state highways that are good alternates for getting out of town? What about county roads? Are you going to shelter in place until the mobs are gone or are you going to be the first on the road, maybe even prematurely? Are you going to be standing in line in a hot zone waiting for a bus that may never come back?

"If your local plan does not look realistic, get involved and ask people some questions. If they change things great, if not, you have to decide if you are going to rely on them"

A politicians job is to get re-elected, not be a disaster expert. They support a plan that looks good on paper, and point at it and say what a good job they are doing... And forget about it... And if it fails during a disaster, they are the first to point out the "expert" that drew it up failed...

I have one of those old CD Geiger counters. Mine is a newer model from the 1970s. It wasn't made to detect small amounts of radiation from a distance and only works up close for decon activities. I don't think it would ever be able to detect trace amounts in the atmosphere, and that's not what it was designed for.

It is good for something though...

I played the best April's Fools joke ever at work by making coworkers think an order of radios we recived were radioactive. It was an easy sell because the radios were made in Japan and it helps that they didn't know the radios had actually been in a US warehouse for months. I had them convinced that millions of dollars worth of radios would have to be returned. It was awesome! My only mistake was not getting video.

I wont go into particulars but one municipality as an example expected city bus drivers (not properly trained and equipped first responders, nor very well compensated over all) to respond to a call out and make multiple repeated trips into a hot zone to evacuate people.

Indeed.Expecting that people will do as they're told but not doing it should be factored into the "realistic" part of the "Realistic Plan". There is much hysteria involved with radiation and even people who should know better act silly. When I go into ICU to take an X-Ray and call out "X-Ray", warning doctors, nurses, and visitors to get back several feet, most of the nurses scatter like cockroaches and dive behind desks.

Consider: A recent properly executed poll showed that over %80 of Registered Nurses said that they would NOT report to work at their hospital of employment in the event of a radiologic emergency. (Reactor leak, "Dirty Bomb", nuclear waste spill). Sorely needed medical services would be extremely compromised should this happen. Education is the answer, even in the health care field itself.

Yet many Japanese hams have indeed been helping out in Japan after the tsunami. But again, it's the communication emergency following the tsunami that they've helped out with, not the events at the nuclear power plant.

A large number of hams are involved in the communications for the evacuation plans for nuclear facilities. The plan nearest me uses amateur radio in several phases of the plan. Hams are involved in the planning and implementation of the plans for the three plants in our area.Bob MimsWA1OEZ

"Are Hams prepared for a nuclear accident?" Add "Most" before "Hams" & in a word, no!!!!

I doubt that but a select few would come remotely close to being of any "help". I believe no one would disagree, a nuclear accident is very complex issue, as evidenced by the aftermath of the Sendai earthquake & resultant Tsunami. I certainly wouldn't be inclined to do anything except take care of my family, in a similar situation & not be on the radio!!

My 2 cents, etc, etc..... & Oh yeah, "Duck & Cover"....

Yes, I edited my post & yes the duck & cover is being sarcastic & maybe even a "lame" attempt @ humor, yet a reference to the Governments BS about being Nuked by the "Soviets", like that would save you...OK a little off topic, but .... to "beg the question", "are Hams....accident?".. I again will opine, "No, but for a SELECT few".....

No I don't need chastised about my comments, as life's too short for anyone to "cry in their beer"...... Historically, humor has seen many folks thru a myriad of tragic disasters...

Hey fellows, anyone that has the mantles for Coleman or otherwise gas lanterns has a nice low level radiation source for testing radiation counters. The mantles a good low level Alpha emitters with some Beta and maybe even a trace of Gamma, I forget the exact radiation mix for the oxides used on making the mantles. They are a known radiation source and were often used in the initial setup of radiation monitoring hardware and software. Most of your ionization type smoke detectors contain an Alpha source.

Geiger counters require care to maintain the high voltage supply, so many of the newer units are scintillation detectors.

Aw come on guys, if there is a " hot " radiation accident , you guys wouldn't have to complain about cold solider joints in your mfj equipment anymore, look on the ' bright " side , pun intended. :Dkg4ymc terry wonder if I could train gozilla to hold my antenna up?

the part about the traffic monitors keeping track of information gong out. we could use air traffic controllers now , probably get them cheap , we won't even have to wake them up , the idea of using ham with geiger counter ? here is how it could work. If they get there hair back, lose the beer belly , if no code ham they start sending 60 wpm with no errors, the level is to high . hey , it could have that affect on ham s would the goverment really tell us when it is time to panic, on a similar subject reading " america " by stephen coonts some hijackers steal a nuke sub, good read . if into what if thrillers .. kg4ymc

one last comment , that I "ll pretend I am an air traffic controller, Would be great Geico ad, guy lifts rock, sees a ham with an ht and geiger counter, " hey charlie think you better stay under the rock.kgymc

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